Business Travel – A New World Order (powered by SNCF Connect & Tech)

Gautier Kerdoncuff, Strategy Director at SNCF Connect & Tech, delivered a structured historical analysis of the business travel distribution ecosystem, tracing its evolution through four distinct mutation phases and outlining a new four-category market architecture. Speaking remotely from France via video link at ITB Berlin 2026, Kerdoncuff argued that the industry is now defined by increasing complexity and collaboration rather than pure competition.

The first mutation began with the early-2000s startup boom, which produced two parallel phenomena: a new supply of tech-first companies (global distribution systems, OTAs) and a new type of demand from tech-savvy small companies that were simultaneously solution builders and consumers. SNCF Connect itself — then named voyage.sncf.com — predates the web, having launched on Minitel (France's pre-internet computer network) and then adapted through WAP mobile internet, making it an example of continuous platform evolution.

The second mutation was the traditional players' 'catchup' phase. Kerdoncuff used the G7 taxis vs. Uber dynamic in Paris as a case study: rather than being destroyed by Uber, G7 responded by building its own high-quality app that integrated Uber-style UX with traditional taxi advantages. What initially appeared as existential competition became collaboration, because the growing complexity of mobility ecosystems (particularly rail fragmentation with new operators entering European markets) made specialization essential. Generalist travel agencies could not realistically build vertical-specific integrations themselves, creating a structural need for specialist tech providers.

The third mutation was COVID-19's normalization of 'bleisure' — the blending of business and leisure travel. Kerdoncuff described millennials as the primary driver: they increasingly extend business trips to incorporate personal tourism, visit friends, and add leisure days. This collapsed the frontier between B2C and B2B travel expectations, giving OTAs with strong consumer UX a structural advantage in business travel contexts.

The fourth mutation is ongoing: environmental regulation is expanding the definition of corporate travel responsibility. In France, a 2023 law now requires companies above a certain size to declare and monitor carbon emissions from employee mobility — including daily commutes from home to the workplace, not just business trips. This creates entirely new market opportunities for platforms that can centralize sustainable mobility subsidies. SNCF Connect's Tesmo brand offers 'Tesmo Business Mobility,' a product that gives employees a budget to spend on sustainable mobility options while giving companies automated carbon tracking and governance.

The resulting ecosystem has four categories: (1) generalist one-stop-shop travel agencies with broad inventory but weaker digital UX; (2) specialized OTAs that have also productized their tech (exemplified by SNCF Connect/Tesmo); (3) business mobility platforms managing employee mobility budgets and sustainability compliance; and (4) pure-play tech suppliers that power all the above. Kerdoncuff predicted that rail fragmentation — particularly Spain's advanced multi-operator market and France following the same trajectory — will intensify and further increase the value proposition of vertical specialists to generalists. He explicitly declined to detail AI's impact, acknowledging it 'will totally reshuffle the cards' but deferring to other ITB sessions on the topic.